Los Thuthanaka by Los Thuthanaka

Psychedelic yet energetic, noisy yet pointed, anxiety-inducing yet endlessly fun, the experimental Latin grooves on the self-titled LP by Los Thuthanaka convert sounds in our everyday lives into a horrifying yet fascinating sonic funhouse. From heavily processed vocal samples to tiny, mundane snippets of music, each of Los Thuthanaka’s source materials assumes wild new shapes, twisting and repeating in an eerie, fuzzy, aggressive instrumental environment as any of our original familiarity fully disintegrates. Though instrumental conditions vary wildly from track to track, a continuous reliance on blown-out synth leads and awkward, suspended background pads unifies these disparate tracks, reminding us of where we are as percussion, lead samples, and other adorning elements shift dramatically. Above all, however, the persistent Latin grooves, undeniably present even as the percussion momentarily disappears entirely, lend a crucial jittery energy to every track, piercing through the noise with its relentless reminder that no matter how comfortable we get in this alien environment, another one will come to shake us up soon enough.